After passage in both houses of the Legislature, Senate Bill 1444 became law upon the governor’s signature on May 29, 2023.

In 2022, the COAERS Board of Trustees and the City of Austin developed a proposal to amend the COAERS governing statute to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the retirement system. The collaborative effort between COAERS and the City resulted in Senate Bill 1444, which was introduced during the 88th Texas legislative session. The legislation touches on several policy areas, including contributions, benefits, and governance.

The provisions of the bill are expected to have a significantly positive impact on the funding of the System in future years. Most notably, the legislation will retire the System’s unfunded liability over a fixed 30-year period, increase employee contributions to the System, and move the System to a flexible actuarially determined employer contribution rate to keep the plan on a steady path towards full funding.

The legislation was a culmination of the joint efforts between COAERS and the City of Austin to bring forward an agreed-upon, comprehensive framework for plan sustainability. The law will go into effect on September 1, 2023.  

For more information and to stay up to date about proposed benefit changes, please visit www.coaers.org/plan-sustainability.